HOW-TO: Red Ombre Braid by Elena Gatzios

Floridian stylist Elena Gatzios says she's been doing photo shoots for close to a year in hopes of catching someone's eye. Gatzios has styled a variety of looks — from a polished Cinderella updo (the likeness to the Disney character is uncanny) to the loose, beachy braid she shared with MODERN.

STEP 1: Curl hair with 1-1/2 inch ironSTEP 2: Run fingers through once hair is all curled; this expands and loosens curlsSTEP 3: Spray Sebastian Texture Maker and scrunch. Let sit about 5 minutes or use a diffuser.STEP 4: Designate a part on the preferred side of the head.

ADD TEXTURE & LENGTH:

STEP 5: Place hair extensions in an order to best suit the braid; they don't need to be curled.STEP 6: From the bottom left nape, begin placing extensions diagonally going up to the crown.STEP 7: Once extensions have been placed, tease hair at the root from the occipital bone up to the front hair line. STEP 8: Gently brush the top layer of the hair to smooth out the look without losing volume. Keep the part intact!STEP 9: Apply Sebastian Microweb Fiber from the midshaft to ends of hair to relax flyaways.

BRAID & PLACEMENT:

STEP 10: Leaving out the entire front hairline, grab a section as if pulling the hair half-up. Keeping the section loose, twist and push forward to create more volume. Use bobby pins to secure it by the occipital bone. STEP 11: Take small sections of loose hair from the hairline and twist and pin. Repeat all the way down the right side until you meet the bottom left corner. Repeat the process on the left side to the bottom of the left ear.STEP 12: Braid the remaining loose hair all the way to ends and place two bobby pins in an upward X-shaped position at the bottom. STEP 13: Gently pull strands from the bottom-up to loosen the braid, then spray Sebastian Reshaper all over to hold. STEP 14: Add hair chain, if desired. Gatzio's chain is from Rosa's Jewelry.

When celebrity hair and makeup artist and social media guru Olivia Smalley @omgartistry came across a video tutorial on Instagram from @asil showing various people using a water bottle to curl hair, she knew she had to test it out for herself. The results are stunning!

After narrowing countless entries down to five finalists, we asked the five talented stylists to create a New Year’s Eve, little-black-dress-appropriate submission. Now we need YOUR help choosing the winner of Slay Belles.